In Caring For Scientists
by astarte-lydianna
Summary: When taking care of Jane and the other scientists in the tower Darcy ends up injured. The aftermath leads to new discoveries for both her and the fluffy scientist who stitches her up.
1. How Bruce Cared For Darcy

It was an unexpected feeling that started it. A horrid sick, dizzy feeling that made her head spin and her limbs feel heavy. Then everything went black.

"Darcy?" Jane called out, hearing a crashing noise and blinking up from her papers in confusion. The Astrophysicist spotted the younger woman sprawled across the floor amongst a variety of items. "Darcy!"

Running over she shook her assistant lightly, before spotting what looked like a fork sticking into the woman's arm.

"Or crap." She muttered, scrambling to her feet. "Bruce?! Bruce, I need your help!"

The nuclear physicist stuck his head out of his lab door to find the source of his name.

"Bruce! Help! Darcy's...I don't even know what happened but she's on the floor." Jane blurted out, waving her arms frantically to get him to follow her.

Bruce knelt next to the dark haired woman led across the tiled floor. His fingers moved her hair from her face and neck before checking her pulse and breathing.

"You said you didn't know what happened?" He asked, carefully turning the impaled arm to get a better look. He glanced at the various other utensils and smashed crockery on the floor, taking note of the spilt tea. He touched his fingers to it, it was still warm. "Do you know if she was coming into the room or out? This all looks fresh...it's possible the coffee might have burnt her if she landed in it."

"She went to get lunch. I heard and crash and when I called her name and she didn't answer I looked up and found her like this." The woman explained.

"It looks like she just fainted, she looks pretty pale...has she been sick at all?" He asked, carefully moving away some of the broken debris to allow him to move Darcy.

"Not that I've noticed, she hasn't said anything." Jane shrugged. "What about you?"

"I...don't even notice she's been in and out until I reach for my tea and find it hot. Unless she's kicking me out of the lab..." He admitted. "There's a couch in my lab, let's move her there and get a better look at that arm."

He carefully shifted his arms underneath her and instructed Jane to place the arm carefully on her chest, in a way least likely to move it around.

"Jarvis can you tell me anything about the incident?" He asked, entering his own lab and placing Darcy safely onto the couch.

"It appears you were correct, Miss Lewis appears to have fainted on her way into the lab. I would advise preparing a guest room for her in the tower for a few days to recover."

"From fainting?" Jane asked.

"Jarvis...exactly what time did Darcy leave the tower last night?" He frowned.

"Miss Lewis has not left the tower since Tuesday night Sir." He replied.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Bruce sighed. "Alright, Jarvis is there a guest room free on one of the private floors?"

"There are two on your own floor Dr Banner."

"Great, that's perfect." He said, "Let's give her a quick check over then get her upstairs."

"Her arm Bruce." Jane spoke, biting her bottom lip with worry.

"She'll be fine, there's not much bleeding so she isn't in immediate danger." He reassured the astrophysicist calmly. He ran his hands briefly over Darcy's skull, relieved to find no bumps or redness and then quickly skimmed his hands along her neck, shoulders, ribs and arms to check for breaks. "I'm not feeling any other injuries." Scissors from his desk made quick work of cutting the sleeve of her top to allow him access, he prodded gently and the flesh surrounding where the fork penetrated Darcy's skin. "It doesn't appear to have hit any veins so it should be pretty straight forward to take out."

"Will she need to go to the hospital?" Jane asked.

"I don't think so. It looks like it'll just be a flesh wound, it probably looks pretty bad like this but I promise you it'll heal very quickly." He replied, opening a first aid kit and pulling out gloves and sterile wipes. He wiped down the skin before giving the fork a tug, the skin seemed to cling to it. Reaching for a small packet he opened it.

"What are you doing?!" Jane blurted out in horror, watching as the small silver blade cut the edges of the wound. Darcy's arm flinched and both scientists looked to the brunettes face to see her wince a bit.

"Just making sure I can get it out cleanly." Bruce explained. "Darcy? Can you hear me?" There was a mumbled response from the younger woman but no actual words. "This will sting but you'll feel a lot better in a minute, alright?" He got no response and calmly asked Jane to hold Darcy's hand down against the cushion, before pulling sharply at the fork. Blood followed it out of the wound but not enough to worry him.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Jane cringed.

"Well that was the worst part cover with." Bruce told her, his eyes flicking up to Darcy's face. The assistant had rather worrying not woken up yet, despite showing signs of being in pain. "Jarvis did she hit her head at all?"

"Not hard enough to result in injury Doctor, I can assure you that Miss Lewis is merely unconscious." The A.I. Replied. "Her brain activity and vital signs all appear to be normal."

Once the bleeding slowed and he was able to fully clean the area, he applied lidocaine to the area.

"I'm going to just put a couple of stitches in to help hold it closed while it heals, if I thought she would take it easy and let it heal I'd probably just use the glue and strips...but since that probably won't be the case..." He explained, trailing off as he began to suture Darcy's arm.

"We should get her cleaned up." Jane said quietly.

"We'll do that upstairs." He nodded, removing the gloves and throwing them away. "Would you mind bringing the first aid kit and the scissors?"

Jane quickly closed up the first aid kit, tossing the scissors into it as well and followed her co-worker, now carrying Darcy, out of the lab.

After he and Jane had taken Darcy to a guest room, they had cut her top off to save moving her arm around, since he had already cut the sleeve anyway. Jane had gotten a cloth and washed any traces of food, coffee or blood from Darcy's skin. Bruce found himself grateful for the other scientists help in removing Darcy's jeans, so that he could carefully clean the red patch of skin on the younger woman's thigh. It was burnt but not badly. He cleaned it and carefully applied some cream before they left Darcy to sleep.

Knowing that Jarvis would alert either of them if Darcy woke or needed help, Jane went to sort out cleaning the mess in the lab and Bruce found himself seeking out Tony.

"Wait...she doesn't live here?" Tony asked in surprise. "But...she's always here?"

"Exactly." He sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly, knocking his glasses askew. "She keeps me and Jane supplied with food and drinks and forces us to rest when we skip a night of sleep. She makes breakfast for nearly the entire of the team and some extras. She takes care of all of us; we virtually never sleep, so when does she get the chance to go home and sleep?"

"I see your point." Tony agree. "In my defence, I seriously thought she lived here. She's always in the kitchen!"

"She's lost weight, I didn't notice until I was treating her but...she's exhausted." He frowned.

"She eats, I see her eat all the time." Tony protested.

"She does eat but does she eat enough to stay awake for days on end, chasing around after a dozen other people?" he asked.

"Why doesn't she live here?" Tony frowned.

"Probably because no one offered." He shrugged.

"Well I'll sort her a room, tell her she has a room." Tony said. "How long you been at it? You look like you could use a nap yourself Big Guy."

"I'll probably do that actually." He agreed.

Darcy cringed as her head pounded. She hadn't even opened her eyes yet and her head already hurt.

"What the hell?" She groaned. She cracked her eyes open slowly and glanced around at the unfamiliar room. "Where am I?"

"Still in the tower Miss Lewis."

"Oh thank god." She sighed. "I panicked for a sec there J."

"I have alerted Dr Banner that you are awake." The A.I. informed her.

"Bruce..." She frowned, sitting up and wincing at a tightness in her leg. Then she noticed a clean white bandage on her right arm. "What happened?"

"You fainted." A quiet voice came from the doorway. Darcy's jaw dropped. Bruce stood in the doorway, arms supporting him on the frame as if he had literally stumbled out of bed and to the door of the room she was in. Shirtless.

She had seen him shirtless before, she had seen him practically naked before but there wasn't really much sexy about a battered guy passing out naked and in pain, after changing back from the Hulk. This was completely different and brought a whole set of different, decidedly sexier images to mind.

"Seriously?" She asked, lifting her bandaged arm up pointedly.

"You fainted, carrying a tray of lunch and coffee for Jane." He elaborated. "You landed on the fork."

"I got stabbed with a fork?" She asked in disbelief. "Aw crap...how come everyone else gets awesome battle scars and I get to be the one stabbed with a fork?!"

"You also have some mild burns on your thigh from the coffee." He told her.

"Goodbye swim suits." She muttered.

"It shouldn't scar." He said, coming closer. "It'll be like sun burn, it'll peel but it shouldn't scar."

"Small mercies." She smiled up at him. "Is Jane OK?"

"Worried but fine." He smiled back. "Darcy, you were awake and in the tower working for seventy-four hours."

"Was I?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "No wonder I feel like crap."

"You've been asleep for sixteen hours."

"Please tell me somebody fed everyone." She winced.

"Darcy!" He stared at her in disbelief. "We are adults, we appreciate everything you do for us but we aren't going to die if you go home and get some sleep for yourself every now and then."

"You don't know that." She said quietly. "Last time I took a whole weekend off, I had to find out that Tony was in the hospital on the news!" She pointed out.

"Tony is...wait, were you mad because he got in an explosion or because no one told you?"

"Both! But more the finding out on TV thing." She huffed. "I...I know I'm not the genius scientist and I'm not a master assassin or a massively important business person or a superhero but...you guys mean a lot to me and you just...forgot about me. You forgot to tell me anything. I couldn't get through to anyone's phone and no one called me."

"We don't forget you..." He offered weakly, knowing full well that he often spent so much time in his bubble that he didn't know when days passed him by, let alone lab assistants.

"I don't mind not being important, I honestly mean that. I'm not throwing a pity party here but if I'm not here then something happens; I get left out. I mean...if you were the one sat at home, watching someone you care about being wheeled into hospital and not knowing what was happening, how would you feel?"

"Terrified." He admitted honestly, stepping into the room and moving closer to scrutinize her. "Anywhere other than your arm hurt?" She shook her head. "Headache?"

"A bit. Anyway," She said, switching the subject back. "I don't care that I'm not special but if he had actually died, if any of you actually died and I only found out on the fucking news..."

"You are important Darcy, really you are." He told her. "We don't always show it but we couldn't get through the days without you. I mean it. Tony is kicking himself, he feels awful because he thought you actually lived here."

"I've never lived here." She frowned.

"You do now, if you want to of course." He told her. "He just assumed you already lived here because everyone else did and you were always here."

"Want or not, you live here now." Tony's voice interrupted them. "There's a small suite on floor twenty-six with your name on it, literally, so now you have to move in. I wanted to find you a bigger one but the only big one empty wasn't on a floor with any of us soooo..."

"You put my name on a door?" She asked, as he threw a keycard at her.

"Obviously. Steve and Bruce are on this floor too." He said. "I thought about Thor and Jane's floor but Steve already moved from there to get away from the loudness of late night activities, so I thought I'd spare you that. Unless you're into that."

"Floor twenty-six is good." She said quickly, grabbing the keycard from the bed.

"Good, Steve and Thor already started packing your stuff an hour ago." Tony grinned, offering a small wave and leaving.

"Tony! They can't pack my stuff!" She shouted after him. "Don't think I didn't notice that you just had a whole conversation with my boobs! Tony you can't let Steve pack my stuff! It'll break him!"

"You can't go anywhere until I say so." Bruce said, stopping her from getting up but carefully avoiding touching anywhere but her shoulder.

"Say so quickly, before Captain America sees my underwear and sex toy collection!" She insisted.

"Collection?" He found himself repeating, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry, overshare right?" She offered sheepishly. "But a girl has needs and I don't have time to find a boyfriend, besides normal guys total suck after meeting real deal super soldiers and geniuses. I'm not even that smart but I say stuff and normal people look at me like I'm talking Martian! I've been tainted with physics!"

"We lured you to the dark side huh?" He chuckled.

"You can lure me anywhere you want Doc." She winked.

"Um...well right now the only thing anyone should be luring you into doing, is eating something and then resting some more." He replied, his face flushing slightly but he didn't appear too ruffled by her flirty banter. Then again he was friends with Tony Stark, so really she couldn't imagine that much ruffled him anymore.

"If you promise me that everyone has eaten something since I've been asleep and that none of you have been in the labs or workshops since before I fainted without sleeping, then I will Co-operate." She nodded. "And please someone stop Steve from finding my sex toys."

"Jarvis?" Bruce called.

"I can confirm that everyone has eaten at least one meal since your accident Miss Lewis. Dr Banner has not returned to his lab since, Dr Foster did not return to hers until three hours ago. Mr Stark is currently still in his workshop but currently sleeping. Was there anyone else?"

"Is there anyone else that hasn't eaten or slept since I fainted, that is currently still working?" She asked.

"No Miss Lewis."

"Then as long as I can call Jane and get her to go rescue Steve, I'm all yours Doc." Darcy nodded, satisfied that no one was likely to blow up immediately. "Also, I might need more clothes."

"They're in the laundry, well not the shirt, that got thrown out because we cut the sleeve off." He told her. "Since all of your stuff is being brought to the tower you'll have access to all your own clothes in the next hour or so I expect."

"Then can I steal a shirt from someone because otherwise someone is either going to get a slap or a heart attack?" She grinned.

"I'm going to assume by slap you mean Tony and heart attack you mean Steve." He chuckled, moving back to the door. "I'll grab you one."

When he returned a moment later, Bruce found it admittedly hard to avoid looking at her breasts. Sat up in bed like she was, only wearing her black bra with black and pink laced edges, they were far more distracting than they had been when he had been examining her earlier. When he and Jane had undressed her and he had treated her leg and arm, he had been busy focusing on what he was doing rather than what Darcy looked like with her clothes off. He handed her the plain grey t-shirt silently.

"Thanks." She tugged it over her head and climbed out of the bed.

"Jane put your jeans in her machine, I've sent a message to ask her to bring them for you and I mentioned that you might appreciate her helping pack any of your personal stuff that you might not want other people finding." He said, trying not to look like he was staring at her bared legs. "In the meantime, I ordered some Chinese food."

"Excellent!" She beamed. "Um...so this is the twenty-sixth floor?"

"Yeah, it's one of the main floors in the residential area. Each residential floor has a few suites on it, plus one or two spare rooms for guests. This is a spare room. My apartment is right next door, Steve's is the opposite side of the hall, you'll be in the suite at the end, I didn't know that when we brought you up here, although I don't actually know if the suite even has a bed yet." He explained, opening the door of the room and checking the hallway. "No one's about."

In the hallway Darcy noticed that to the right of them was a small open area and elevator. Directly opposite was a blank door, presumably another guest room, to the left of that was a door with Steve's name on it. Directly opposite that was one with Bruce's name on. As Bruce opened the door for them, Darcy noticed a door further down the corridor, all the way at the end with her name on it.

"He literally put my name on a door." She said.

"Knowing Tony it'll be beyond all expectations within twenty-four hours." The man to her left commented, gesturing for her to head inside.

On entering Bruce's apartment, her first thoughts were that it was very him. There wasn't much in the way of personal items on the shelves or walls. Instead there were books. Books that filled the shelves and also lay haphazardly around from the chair arms to the kitchen counter.

"Take a seat, the food will be here any minute, choose something to watch if you like." He offered.

Jarvis alerted them to the arrival of the food and Bruce went down to the lobby to collect it. When he returned he found Darcy curled up on his couch, half under a blanket, half in his shirt, remote in her hand.  
For a moment the image made him wonder what it would be like to come home to a woman waiting for him under better circumstances, someone full of warmth and humour like Darcy.

"Tough decision here, Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean?" She asked him, as he placed the bag of food on the coffee table.

"Lord of the Rings." He replied without thinking.

"Good choice." She nodded, hitting play from the list of films on the screen. "Not that there was really a bad choice, really they're both good trilogies but Lord of the Rings is just infinitely more epic. Like Star Wars but minus the sci-fi and double the fantasy."

"Aren't there six Star Wars films now?" He asked.

"Yeah but the original three are the great epic trilogy I mean. The newer ones are still pretty great but they're never going to be the same." She explained. "Which remains me, if anyone damages any of my posters in the move, I will pull my Taser on them."

"You have Star Wars posters?" he asked, his lips quirking in amusement.

"No I have a Star Wars poster, I just have several other posters that are also awesome and don't deserve to be torn or wrinkled up." She corrected him defensively.

"You have posters." Bruce grinned, shaking his head and suddenly having flashbacks of college.

"So? I hardly think my posters make me the dorkiest person in this building." She snorted. "Not even my graphic novel collection and collectible figures make me the biggest dork in this building!"

"Not to be confused with the sex toy collection?" He asked. Darcy practically choked on her food at that.

"That was both a joke and dirty! Bruce I'm shocked! Shocked and proud!" She exclaimed.

"I bet the dorks at your school had no clue how to react to you did they?" He chuckled. He certainly wouldn't have when he was a teenager. A girl that looked like Darcy and appeared to be both smart and slightly dorky was every nerdy teenaged boy's wet dream come true. She would've have eaten them alive. Hell he still wasn't exactly sure how to react to her now!

"It was easier when I was flat chested." She grinned. "Also I went through a goth phase that did a good job of scaring off quite a few people. If you ever tell anyone about that I will taze you so hard you'll be green for a month."


	2. At Home With Heroes

It was nearly an hour later when Tony Stark walked into Bruce's apartment. He did a double take at the sight of the dark haired woman curled up on the couch in just a t-shirt and her underwear. She casually leant back against the armrest, her bare legs stretched out, feet resting in Bruce's lap.

"Wow, you move fast, I approve."

"Fast what now?" Darcy blinked in confusion. Tony gestured his hand between her and Bruce on the couch and suddenly they realised what he was talking about. "I totally hit on him when he came running in all bed rumpled and shirtless and everything but apparently he's too much of a gentleman for that."

"Disappointed in you Bruce!" Tony said, pointing accusingly at the man now looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Then he handed Darcy a starkpad.

"What is this for?" She asked.

"Look at the screen dummy." He rolled his eyes. "Curtains, beds, carpets. Pick some."

"Is there something wrong with the bed at my apartment?" She asked.

"None of that furniture is coming to this tower. Your stuff can come, your furniture is cheap, falling apart trash." He insisted, lifting her legs from the other man's lap and dropping down onto the couch between her and Bruce. "So the walls are all just white, we can change them if you want but then it'd be hard to move you in today."

"White is fine." She replied. "It beats mouldy and chipped."

"You're not wrong there." Tony agrees. "So, choose some furniture and I will have it here before bed time."

"The people in this tower don't have a bed time." Darcy said flatly.

"You know what I mean." He said pointedly.

"OK…um…I don't know how about blue?" she suggested.

"Why are you asking me?"

"I've never picked out new stuff before, I shop at flea markets." She shrugged. "Oh I like that picture, can you do that?" She pointed to a picture of a simple white metal bed frame with green and white bedsheets on, the cushions, rugs and curtains also a mixture of white, green and brown some with vine like designs on.

"Done." Tony nodded. "What about the living area? Still the same colours?" Darcy made a humming noise for a moment as she continued to flick through the images on the starkpad.

"Black and white, more like this." She said, showing him a picture.

"Done and done, easiest woman to please ever." He commented, taking back the tablet.

"You're giving me a rent free room." She replied. "Seriously, I'd have been happy with the room and a mattress on the floor as long as I could bring my posters and books and stuff."

"Yeah, I noticed the action figures and the superhero underwear."

"You looked at my underwear." She demanded.

"I was being nosey." He shrugged, as if that explained everything. "I thought I'd find something kinky in there but no such luck."

"That's because I don't keep my sex toys with my underwear, they have their own spot." She grinned, sending a wink in Bruce's direction. "Unless you want me to relay this entire conversation to Pepper, I would think very carefully about my next words if I were you Tony."

"No fun." He pouted, getting up from the couch. "Fine, you two get back to whatever it is you weren't doing."

Darcy and Bruce stared at the billionaire as he left the room, a short silence followed his departure.

"I'd like to be horrified that he went through my underwear drawer but really by this point I can't even bring myself to be that surprised." She commented.

"Superhero underwear?" he asked.

"Hey you've already seen my pretty underwear, now you want to see the cool ones too?" she teased, nudging him with her toes.

"I-I didn't mean-"

"Chill," she laughed, taking pity on him. "If you want to see my underwear all you have to do is say so."

"Wha- I…" he blurted, looking a bit confused.

"We could do a trade, you show me your underwear, I show you mine." She told him, getting comfortable on the couch again and turning her attention back to the movie.

"I don't usually wear underwear." He blurted out before he thought better of it.

"Score." She grinned.

They were into the second film before Jane finally made an appearance. Knocking on the door and entering when Jarvis opened the door.

"I'm sorry, I went straight to your place to help…just…help." Jane explained looking embarrassed for a moment.

"And did you save Steve from being scarred for life?" Darcy asked.

"I did." The older woman nodded. "I can't say the same about myself though."

"Not all of us can have actual Gods to fulfil our wildest desires Jane." Darcy countered, taking the clothes from her boss gratefully. She didn't bother going elsewhere to change, what was the point, both Bruce and Jane had seen her in her underwear already. Instead she simply tugged a clean pair of jeans on and wriggled into them. She glanced at the top Jane had brought from her apartment and shrugged. "Why waste a clean shirt this late in the day?"

"The rest of your stuff is on the way right now. It's a shame you're not going to be next door to me, there was an empty room across from us." Jane mused.

"Apparently you and Thor did some Steve scarring yourselves." Darcy smirked. Jane flushed and whacked Darcy with a hiss to be quiet.

"Anyway, you'll be able to go to your room in a bit, the furniture guys a building it all right now. I'm going to go meet the guy downstairs with your stuff, you wait here."

"I'm fine Jane." Darcy called to the other woman now making her way back to the door. "I can-"

"Rest here." Bruce cut in sternly. "You can put away some of your stuff when it's already been brought to your apartment for you. You will not unpack everything tonight and you will not do anything strenuous." Darcy huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You just wait until the next time I kick you out of your lab." She mumbled. "I'm so throwing every second of this back at you."

Darcy's room was lovely. Tony had done what he did best and as she stepped into her new home, she felt like she was stepping into the catalogue. It was all clean and new smelling and perfect. Too perfect, it needed some homely touches to really make it her own place but it was nicer than anywhere she had ever lived before.

Bruce excused had excused himself after escorting her to her rooms when the others arrived. He said that his work really couldn't be ignored any longer and disappeared into the elevator. She had however tried to follow his orders to take it easy and get some rest.

Over the next two weeks she had to admit that it was definitely easier to manage everyone and fit in time to take care of herself, when she didn't have a half hour bus journey home and back. It was easier to take the time to rest knowing that she could have Jarvis alert her to any problems. It was also an added bonus that she could make everyone breakfast while still in her pajamas and go back and get dressed afterwards.

It was one such morning that had Bruce looking somewhat uncomfortable. Darcy shoved a plate or pancakes towards Steve, who was about to be heading off to DC for at least a few weeks; so she needed to feed him extra so that he would remember to come back.

"Bruce are you going to eat that omelet or just sit there while it goes cold?" she asked.

"I uh…sorry." He replied, dropping his fork back to his plate to mechanically resume eating.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked him quietly, as the woman moved back towards the other side of the kitchen to clear up some of the mess.

"Yeah, I-" he shifted his gaze from Darcy guiltily.

"Everyone keeps telling me that when you like a girl, you should do something about it."

"It's um…Darcy and I aren't…she's wearing my shirt." He admitted quietly, making a point not to look up again. His teammate glanced briefly at the woman in question and noted that the grey shirt she wore was definitely oversized, reaching her thighs which was incidentally only about where her shorts also reached. He let out a small grin as he spotted the batman socks that she also wore. He didn't say anything, just nodded in acknowledgement. It was fairly easy to see the appeal of a woman wondering around your clothing, it gave some kind of illusion of possession. He couldn't help but wonder if Darcy knew exactly what she was doing, she definitely seemed pretty clued in to the workings of such things. He couldn't help but smile to himself slightly, if Darcy Lewis had set her sights on Banner, then not only was Banner a lucky guy but he was also in way over his head. Darcy would eat him alive.

Bruce found himself eying Darcy again, he wanted to get up and leave, he told himself he should do exactly that…but for just this once he found himself being selfish. Instead he slowly ate his breakfast watching the curvy young woman dance her way about the kitchen in his shirt.

Darcy had never been one for the normal or the boring. She had chosen political science for a reason, politics was never boring. It was a minefield of truth, lies and everything in-between that made the world go round. It had been her love of such things that had gotten her a position in the Avengers tower when Jane relocated there. No longer just Jane's assistant, she now had several new scientists under her wing.

When none other than Pepper Potts had witnessed Darcy forcing a Dr Michaels out of the research and development labs, for no reason other than that Darcy hadn't seen her leave her station for sixteen hours, she had offered her the job. With both a heart and mouth as big as Darcy Lewis's, Pepper knew that she could handle anyone, even Tony Stark himself.

The young woman was never seen as boring or conservative, so it should come as no surprise that her reaction to the Hulk was one that hadn't been seen before.

Shouting was the first clue that something was wrong, then the shaking, the floors themselves seemed to quake. Darcy made her way towards the upper labs to shout at Tony for inevitably blowing something up, only to come face to face with a crowd of terrified scientists in the hallway staring up at the Hulk.

Having only seen the Hulk in person once, from a distance, Darcy found herself unsure on what to do. Voices around her told her that everyone was trying to back away without angering the man-beast further.

"Hey big guy," Tony's voice came from the other side of the huge figure. "How about we just back up a step or two? You want to smash? We have some things you can smash, that way."

Darcy looked behind her to the door that led to the containment room. She saw Steve jog up the corridor towards her and gestured wildly to the door. He nodded and slammed his palm against the button to open the double doors.

The Hulk was ignoring Tony and roared frighteningly back at him. Not wanting her boss to end up as a pancake, no one could really blame her for her next actions.

"Hey big guy!" She called out as loud as she could. He snarled and turned his head to snarl at her, before apparently deciding that Tony was more of a threat and moving to look back to him. "Hey, over here!"

There wasn't a great reasoning behind her next actions, actions which no one would ever let her live down. Darcy lifted her shirt up and flashed the Hulk. In her defense it was something that had gotten plenty of attention for her before and in this case, it still seemed to work. The man-beast in question continued to look at her, his head tilting curiously.

"Yep, still male then huh." She muttered, before raising her voice to call out again. "Now that I have your attention, look something to smash!"

His gaze followed her arm as she pointed to the door behind her.

"Hulk, smash!" He growled. The ground shook as he lumbered his way towards her. Darcy stepped out of the way as he entered the containment room, only to find herself being grabbed by his arm and brought with him. She gasped in shock and froze, great...was this where she died? Did the Hulk think she was a human sacrifice of something?

It was a complete surprise when he set her down carefully in the containment room and began to smash at the large boulder inside. Steve reached a hand in to grab her and quickly yanked her out, before sealing the doors as she straightened her clothing.

The Hulk roared, clearly noticing her absence and began to pound on the door. It didn't even shake. That gave her some measure of comfort at least.

"HULK'S!" he roared, looking both angry and confused in a way that made Darcy feel slightly guilty. Fortunately once Darcy and Steve moved out of his line of sight he seemed to settle down and move back to the boulder where he resumed smashing it.

"Good job Lewis, high five!" Tony announced, holding up a hand as he approached them. She gave him his high five with a laugh. "You just made all this damage worth it. You should help with the big guy more often."

"Tony." Steve protested.

"Hey, what can I say, God gave you a brain to invent stuff, he gave me awesome boobs." She shrugged. "I had no idea that would actually work."


	3. Swing and Miss

Darcy had considered Bruce to be one of her friends, she liked to think possibly even a close friend. After her little collapsing incident and the revelation that followed, Bruce being pretty sexy all rumpled and shirtless… Anyway, after that, there had been flirting. Whether he meant to or not, he had flirted back. Darcy had held out hopes that there was potential there, until she made a fool of herself by first flashing and then upsetting the Hulk.

So she did what anyone would do. Avoided him. Well...actually it didn't take much effort to avoid him at all, since he spent most of his time hidden in his lab anyway but she was extra vigilant to avoid his lab in the following week. She knew that he must have heard what happened because no one would stop talking about it. She was officially known as 'the one who flashed the Hulk'. A new title to add to the one who tased Thor.

This afternoon she sat at her desk, Clint had stopped by since he was bored and due another mission any day now. Darcy loved Clint, they got along together really well but they rarely actually saw one another because he was rarely staying at the tower. When he did stay he got fed up of being in one place too long and started to get a little stir crazy. Darcy rolled her eyes at Steve trying to chastise him for teasing her.

"Seriously, Steve, don't bother." She assured him. "It's pretty obvious to everyone that I am not a Lady. I'm good with that. It's pretty obvious that Hawkeye here is just sorry he didn't get a better look, which is odd considering the number of women we see going in and out of his room when he's here."

"She has a point man," Steve laughed. "You have a lot of women over."

"Hey, fairs fair." Clint shrugged. "You got to look, Tony got to look and Banner got to look. I'm feeling left out."

"That's because you're not as special as they are, obviously." Darcy grinned.

"I didn't look." Steve said quickly, flushing slightly. "I mean, I looked away."

"Dude, why?" Darcy shook her head. "I get that you're all proper and everything, that's cool but when someone literally gets their boobs out in front of you, you're allowed to look. Come on even the Hulk looked...although admittedly he just looked confused."

"You know Stark plans on calling you next time there's a code green right?" Clint asked.

"Meh, I just won't answer." She waved off. "Now, I'm going down for food sadly because I skipped lunch."

Leaving the two men stood by her desk, she made her way to the elevator. Unfortunately, it went up, not down.

"Great, let's go up like five floors before going down the two floors I wanted." She mumbled, crossed her arms and slouching back against the wall. It stopped and she immediately stood up straight as Dr. Banner stepped in. He didn't appear to notice her as he entered the elevator, still looking down at his paper. He stopped and leant to press the button for their floor before glancing over at her and freezing.

"Uh...hi..." He said awkwardly.

"Hi." She replied.

"Sorry for...before..." He mumbled. "I um...don't usually lose control in the building."

"Would you believe that I've actually seen worse?" She grinned. "Besides, you didn't even hurt anyone. Not so scary after all huh?"

"Sorry everyone's giving you a hard time about...you know..." He offered, scratching his head nervously.

"Not your fault," she leant back against the wall and grinned at him. "You know those things that seem like a perfectly good idea at the time but end up being one of those embarrassing stories that gets told for like forever. It's one of those."

"Well, it's not really the reaction most people have." He chuckled.

"You mean women don't randomly flash their boobs at you all the time? Damn, I thought it was totally normal." She retorted sarcastically. "Doc seriously, don't worry about it. I wanted to get the big guys attention and it was the first thought that came to me."

"They are sort of...hard not to notice." He mumbled, ducking his head.

"I know, it's a gift." She grinned. "Might as well use my powers for good right?" He laughed openly at that and she couldn't help but realise how much she'd missed him this last week. "I don't get it, you guys are all totally hot and could be rolling in women and yet somehow my boobs are a huge deal. I mean Clint is totally making the most of the image, why aren't the rest of you...although I guess Tony has to behave now because...well, Pepper and as for Steve, he didn't even look! He actually looked away all proper and shit. I think I should actually be offended... Look, now you're all embarrassed too!"

"It's been a while." He murmured with a small smile. "I'm too dangerous for...you know. I'm too dangerous for this tower but you know Tony."

"Yeah...you're terrifying." She deadpanned.

"The other guy is-"

"Not that bad." She cut him off, heading to the open doors as the elevator stopped on the canteen floor. "Seriously I think I need to start some sort of hugging thing because you guys seriously need it."

As she sat and ate her pasta salad, she decided to do just that.

Steve

When Darcy saw Steve making his way to a morning meeting, she knew he was the perfect opportunity to test her hugging plan. He looked like he wanted to be nowhere except bed. Before he could react at all she crossed the hallway and wrapped her arms around him.

Darcy felt Steve tense against her and couldn't help but find his complete bewilderment amusing.

"Are you alright?" He asked, glancing down at the woman hugging his torso.

"You looked like you needed a hug. So I'm giving you a hug." She explained, squeezing him tighter. "It's a thing people do for people they care about."

"I know what hugging is." He huffed, putting his arms around her loosely, careful not to touch anything above or below her waistline.

"You're doing it wrong." She said, her face buried in his shirt. She pulled backwards and lifted his arms from her body. "You don't just flop your arms there. When you need a hug, you hug properly, arms all the way around. I will not be letting you go anywhere until you have a proper hug. Give in now."

She hugged him again and this time his arms slid slowly around her until he hugged her fully, his arms holding her against him completely. This time when she squeezed, he squeezed back and he didn't let go.

"See, people need hugs." She mumbled into his chest.

Eventually he let her go and she grinned up at him. He offered her a slightly embarrassed but warm smile in return and she knew her mission had been accomplished.

"You're one special Lady." He told her fondly, before glancing at the elevator. "At least I can't say my whole day was rotten now."

"Get to the meeting already Cap." She told him, feeling embarrassed at the compliment. "And I'm not a Lady!"

Clint and Natasha

Clint and Natasha had been harder to get into hugs. Whilst they weren't reserved in the way that Steve was, they didn't like contact. They were fine with fighting, fine with sex. Bad with hugs. Clint had been won over first. She had seen him looking rather grumpy and gone over and hugged him. He had gone completely stiff and tried to pry her away without hurting her.

"I want to hug; you're going to hug me." She told him, leaning forward again. She was unable to hug him this time though, as he held her at arm's length away from his body. "Look, hugs are awesome, everyone deserves hugs and seriously why would you have a problem with having someone's breasts pushed up against you?" That had caught his attention. He actually looked to be considering the notion, when she took initiative and pressed herself forward until he allowed her to hug him.

The first few times she hugged him were very much, her hugging him and him letting her press her boobs against him. Once he got used to her randomly hugging him, he allowed her into his personal space without tensing and actually hugged her back. Once he had gotten used to it Darcy had to admit that Clint gave the best hugs. Something about him seemed protective and comforting, in a way similar to Thor but less crushing and more comforting. Almost like a brother...a brother that made inappropriate comments about her chest. Even though he was probably one of the members of the team she saw the least, he became pretty much the best person in world to her, like family.

Natasha held out the longer. Darcy eventually got a hug out of her through means of bribery and alcohol. Darcy had allowed the woman to throw her around the gym mats under the guise of training her, so in return the red head had allowed Darcy to hug her after training. In an effort to make the Russian more receptive Darcy had supplied her with enough vodka to kill someone. Since she also took part in the drinking the result was either an extreme success or a complete backfire depending on how you looked at it and neither of them ever mentioned the night again. Jarvis also became Darcy's best friend after deleting all footage.

Tony

Needless to say Tony had taken no convincing when she first hugged him. He had looked pretty angry over something one afternoon and when she had walked over and hugged him, he had instantly hugged back. He had been more than happy to engage in her hugs over the past several weeks.

"They are definitely enough to make any man feel better." He smirked, squishing her tighter against his front. "I like this new thing you've got going with the hugging. I should make it compulsory, put it in your contract or something."

"Flatterer." She grinned, letting him go. "If you put it in there, you can add a raise too."

"I should give you a raise just for flashing the big guy." He replied. "How's he taking the hugs? Lose his cool yet?"

"I haven't tried yet, not properly." She admitted. "I've been talking to him more, staying to sit with him when I bring him food, trying to get him used to me first. You know like when you have to leave a goldfish in the bag in its tank for a while to get used to it first."

"I can see that, flash a guy first, get to know him after, makes perfect sense." He nodded, staring at her pointedly. "After all he's only seen you in your underwear already."

"Obviously." She snorted. "I don't want to force him to be uncomfortable."

"No way, you like him." Tony said his eyes widening. "I didn't know you had such a soft spot for older men."

"I do not." She protested.

"I call bullshit." He said firmly. "You were fine with Steve being uncomfortable when you made him hug you. You're fine with everyone else but old Brucey gets tea and chats. Which could mean you saw him as too old or boring but I don't think that's it."

"Think what you like." She said, spreading her arms and backing away.

"Hey, hey. One more." He waved his hands and pulled her back to him. Squeezing her front against him tightly before releasing her. "OK, you can go now."

"Gee, thanks boss." She muttered, shaking her head.

Feeling guilty that maybe everyone had noticed that she had so far left Bruce out of the hugs, she made her way down to the labs. What if Bruce had noticed and thought it was because she was scared of his alter-ego?

"Hey." She greeted quietly, knocking on the door frame.

"Um, Hi." He replied, tugging off his glasses and turning his stood to face her. "Is it midnight already?"

"Nope, it's not even five yet." She grinned. "You seem tired though, were you here until midnight last night?"

"Two, I think." He admitted, glancing at the computer screen again.

"Of course, and I assume you skipped lunch?" She asked.

"How did you-"

"This is not my first rodeo Doc; I have come to understand that you science addicts need food brought to your face, literally, to make you eat regularly." She told him. "Come on, you're done for the day."

"I really should-"

"Nope, you're done." She insisted, moving over to where he sat and glancing at his screen. "How much have you got done in the past hour?" She watched as he glanced between his notepad and computer screen with a frown. "That much huh?"

"I guess that should be a sign." He sighed in defeat. "You win."

"Cool, let's go eat." She beamed.

"Let's as in us?" He blinked in surprise.

"I want to eat something, you need to eat something, we live in the same building, on the same floor even, kinda makes sense." She nodded.

"I guess." He agreed. Following her to the door.

"I'm thinking take out, then slouching on the couch to watch something while stuffing our faces. What do you think? Pizza? Chinese?" She asked.

"Um...whatever is fine, I think I could eat rocks about now." He said sheepishly, following her into the elevator.

"You're not going green on me are you?" She frowned. "Not that the big guy isn't cool too but...he's a bit less for conversation and he'd probably smash the TV."

"Or you." He deadpanned.

"Hey, he wouldn't smash me. I'm far too awesome to be smashed." She told him, as they entered the communal kitchen. "Hey look pizza menu! Score!"

She made quick work of ordering several large pizzas and side orders before turning to question him on movie choices.

"Considering I'll probably fall asleep before the end; you can pick what you like." He told her. "Are you sure you want to hang around with me? I'm not exactly the most entertaining company."

"Doc, seriously, shut it." She told him firmly as skimmed through the channels.

"Miss Lewis, your delivery has arrived." Jarvis announced. "Would you like it brought up?"

"Thanks Jarvis!" She called back. "I'll meet the guy at the elevator." She turned to see Bruce stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. "You, sit. Don't leave."

When she returned carrying the pile of pizza boxes, he was obediently sat in the couch as she had instructed. She pushed the table closer to the couch and opened a few of the pizza boxes, before taking a seat next to him.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?" She asked, when she noticed her straight he sat.

"No, no of course not." He replied quickly. She smirked and shuffled closer to him.

"How about now?" She asked.

"What exactly are you doing?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

"I've been doing this thing, hugging people when they seem to need it." She began carefully.

"Yeah, the hugging thing. Tony is loving that." He murmured.

"Exactly, the hugging thing. Well...I didn't want to just leap right to hugging you in case it made you uncomfortable, since you don't really...get close to people." She explained. "But...you sometimes look like you need a hug too so...I thought I'd warn you first."

"In case I go green?" He asked.

"No!" She protested. "Well...OK yes but also because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. You don't get touchy with people so I didn't want to cross any boundaries."

"So you're warning me that you're going to try to hug me?" He enquired looking confused.

"Is that OK?" She asked, talking around a mouthful of pizza. She swallowed and then burst out laughing. "Sorry, like I say to Steve and Thor, I'm not a Lady."

"No, no. It's good that you can be yourself." He laughed, wiping his own mouth.

"I like to think so." She agreed, swinging her legs up onto the couch arm and turning to lean her back against his side.

"You're really not afraid of me are you?" He observed, watching her finish her slice of pizza and wipe her fingers on her jeans.

"Nope." She replied, reaching one arm to the table for her drink. "Neither is Tony or Thor and it's not you other people are scared of."

"But the guys, they're-"

"Stronger? Have super powers?" She offered, she couldn't help but feel a little bitter as she asked. "And I'm just me?"

Her words were met with silence. She shifted herself so that her back was back against the couch and tucked her feet under her. She jumped as she felt him reach out and touch her hand where it rested on her thigh. She glanced up at him in surprise.

"Hey," he said softly. "That's all you need to be."

Her breath caught, her stomach leapt...how odd. She blinked in surprise, Tony was right...shit. She liked Dr. Banner. My than the flirty thing they had going before she flashed the Hulk. She had feelings… Well this just got more awkward...

"How about we make a deal?" She asked, clearing her throat. "I be me, you be you."

"Deal." He laughed.

To Bruce's amusement Darcy ate half of her pizza before declaring herself too full to eat again, only to then pick up the tub of chocolate brownie ice cream and start eating that.

"You've got chocolate um..." He gestured to her face and then glanced down at her chest, before chuckling at her. "Everywhere."

"I'm going to be all sticky now." She frowned wiping a napkin across her sweater. "That's not working." Giving up, she lifted the sweater over her head and used it to wipe her mouth. "Better?"

"Y-yeah." He nodded. It was then she noticed how close they were and that he was focusing his gaze on her front. Out of all the men she had spent time with since working in the tower, he was one of the ones who looked at it the least; even after she had flashed his alter-ego, even when she had been in just her underwear. She supposed that sat this close to him, her vest top made the view pretty obvious.

"Sorry, I um..." He spluttered, realising that he had been staring. She opened her mouth to tell him that it was alright but froze, instead leaning closer to him, tugging his collar until their lips met. It was fast, enthusiastic and passionate. "This is a terrible idea." His words were muffled by her lips.

"Just kiss me." She replied, pressing closer to him, threading the fingers on one hand into his ruffled hair. Kiss her he did, he kissed her like he hadn't had the chance in forever and might never get the chance again. He kissed her as if he were desperate for her, which only made her more desperate for him in return. His hand gripped at her waist, as he rolled them so that she was half led back on the couch, with him knelt mostly above her. She groaned into his mouth, when he lowered his weight one arm, bringing his body into contact with hers. Her hips rolled, trying to gain contact there too.

"I can't..." He panted, his lips leaving hers. He ducked his head against the skin of her neck. Occasionally kissing the skin there, as he tried to regain control. "This isn't going to work. I can't follow through with any of this."

"I didn't ask for anything." She replied, hating how breathy her voice sounded.

"I spend my entire life trying to remain in control," he said, pulling back from her body and helping her back into a sitting position. "Whatever this is, I'm clearly am not in control. That can't happen. Ever."

"Your watch has been flickering its little warning light for nearly the entire time we've been in this room and you're not green yet." She countered. "You have way more control than you think you do."

He glanced at his wrist in surprise. It blinked back at him, showing the truth of her words.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it would be for me to lose control, in this sort of situation?" He asked seriously.

"Yes, I do understand but you're not green yet." She huffed. "You've got the control to do this, to at least try..."

"I can't, I'm sorry." He shook his head and she watched in disappointment as he left the room.


	4. Bruce Makes A Choice

Darcy was hurt. Everyone saw it. Whatever happiness had been gradually building over the past couple of months seemed to have been squished. For once it seemed like the team were the ones hugging her because she needed it. Except Dr. Banner. She still went down and spoke to him occasionally; trying hard not to leave him out or let things get awkward between them. She left him tea and food sometimes; in lieu of the affection that she was able to give the others. But it was awkward. It was awful.

Somehow she hadn't noticed how attached to him she had gotten in that time she was building up to hugging him. In those months that she made the effort to see him more, get him comfortable with her; she had grown more comfortable with him than she realised. If she was honest with herself she had been falling for him since that moment he had stood shirtless in the doorway after taking care of her.

"Hey, you look nice today." She heard Clint speak from behind her. She knew he was lying. She looked awful.

"Ten for effort, three for delivery. I look awful and we both know it." She replied. "I think I need an early night."

"Come on then, let's go get you some junk food and an early night." He offered, dropping a casual arm around her shoulders and guiding her away from her desk. She didn't bother to argue. It was nice to know to feel loved and special even if it was in a platonic way.

"What did you do to Lewis?"

Bruce sighed as he glanced towards the billionaire leant against his doorframe.

"Nothing." He replied, eyes going back to his work. "She even brought me tea and a cupcake earlier, see?"

"Yeah, that's not gonna fly." Tony sniffed. "Let me take a guess here; she asked you out, you shot her down."

"I shot her down." He confirmed, not feeling the need to explain the more physical aspects of the situation. "Are we done?"

"Why? Why would you do that?" Tony asked, shaking his head. "You're a forty year old scientist; that spends all his time hiding in a private lab in yesterday's clothes. When a hot twenty-five year old with amazing breasts and a great personality throws themselves at you, you don't shoot them down. You get on your knees and thank God for the present."

"Tony, I'm done talking about this." He said.

"Yeah, well too bad, cause I'm not." He replied. "She's upset over you, you hurt her, that's a problem."

"If I'd have said yes, I'd have ended up hurting her more." He said gravely.

"Ah, so this is about the rage thing." Tony nodded. "I sort of get that. Except the part where I don't. Look, no one is forcing you to jump into the sack with her; they might think you're crazy not to but hey, your call. What's the harm in flirting? Date the girl! Your control is as near total as it's ever going to get Brucie boy; you should be approaching this like an experiment. One step towards the end goal at a time; if your control slips you back off but I'm willing to bet it won't."

"You'd risk that?"

"That's not my call but she's met the other guy, she still thought you were worth the risk." He shrugged. "And for some reason she is still all broken up over you."

"Why?" Bruce mouthed almost to himself, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"Maybe you should ask her."

It was after several hours of internal arguments, debates and reasoning that Bruce found himself knocking on Darcy's door. He had told himself it was better to leave it, to just walk into his own suite and leave the girl alone but as he eyed her door at the end of the hall he changed his mind. For some reason, Darcy was upset and he had caused that, he needed to fix it.

He was slightly startled when Darcy wasn't the one that answered the door, instead one of his teammates gave him a rather frank stare before speaking.

"You've got two minutes, if she is crying when I get back to check, you're leaving." Clint said firmly, holding the door open and stepping out himself.

"Understood." He nodded, feeling somewhat embarrassed that apparently whatever was going on between him and Darcy was obvious to everyone.

As he shut the door behind him, his eyes fell on the small woman curled up in one corner of her couch. Her eyes and nose were red, she had obviously been crying at some point recently and he could tell she was surprised to see him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked quietly, sitting up straighter and untucking her legs from beneath her.

"You're upset." He said unnecessarily.

"You noticed that huh?" she snorted.

"Yeah I um...why?" he asked, hovering awkwardly.

"Just some asshole." She shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "I'll get over it."

"And if this asshole was sorry?"

"Is he?" she countered.

"He's sorry you're upset."

"What do you want?" she sighed.

He moved to sit beside her on the couch and stared at his linked hands in front of him and took a few moments before speaking.

"I am sorry. That...before didn't go well." He said quietly. "It's been a long time since I even considered the thought of someone being involved with me. I could've explained better."

"No, you explained just fine. You can't get involved. I get it."

"Wait." He said, his hands resting on her upper arms and turning her to face him. "I...whatever we have here, I didn't expect it and… Darcy, if I'm going to at least try this I just want to know...why me? I don't get how you could...want to; I mean there's the age thing, the other guy, the fact I practically live in my lab... Darcy, you could do so much better, why would you risk getting hurt for someone like that?"

"Have you not seen you?" She frowned. "You're freaking adorable! You're hot, you're smart and you're like one of the nicest guys I know. Besides, who said I was giving you a second chance anyway?"

"That's true, I just wanted to know that you had thought more about this than a roll around on the couch before I started pleading for one." He grinned.

"You want a second chance?" She asked, biting her lower lip.

"I can't promise that I'll be-" he cut himself off and shook his head. "Yes, I want a second chance."

"Who am I kidding, you get a second chance, hell you could probably get like six chances." She grinned sheepishly.

"You need to understand, I can't just... Look, I haven't even tried dating in a long time, years, I can't just jump into bed with you." He told her taking her hands in his.

"I can do slow." She assured him. "Don't get me wrong, I'd totally be fine with fast too but I can do slow."

"Please never think it's because I don't want you." He assured her, one hand moving to cup her jaw. "Whenever I need to stop, if I need to leave, if it looks like I'm running away from you; it's never because of you. I just need to keep you and everyone else safe."

"OK," she sucked in a deep breath and nodded. "If you're going to be running on me, we need some ground rules."

"Rules?" he blinked in surprise.

"Yes, Rule number one, you are allowed to run if you genuinely need to. Rule number two, if you tell me to run I will do as I'm told. Only when you tell me to run." She told him.

"Thank you." He sighed, tugging her face towards his and resting his forehead against hers. "If the other guy ever breaks out without warning you are to get away and hide as fast as possible."

"OK that's three. Rule number four, if you run away you must always come back, even if it's not until the next day." She told him. "Oh and Rule number five, kisses are totally allowed. Even if that's all we can have until you're ready, I want all the kisses."

"Oh I think kisses are definitely allowed." He murmured, shifting his head to catch her lips in a kiss to prove his point.

As Clint made his way back towards Darcy's suite to check on her, he found himself pausing at the sound of laughter. He could easily pick out the laughter of both Darcy and Banner, warmth and happiness practically resonated from the young woman's voice. He smiled to himself and turned on his heel to head back the way he had come.

"Is that Darcy?"

Clint looked up to see Steve stepping out of the elevator.

"Sure is." He nodded. "Let's hope Banner made the right call."

Steve reflected back on that morning a couple of months ago and how Bruce had acted around Darcy since. The small woman seemed to have a way of getting Bruce to relax and be himself that very few people had, he was happy for him. Although he could understand how Clint might be feeling protective of Darcy, Steve had known several women with no superpowers or extreme training measures that had been more than capable of taking care of themselves and he was willing to bet that Darcy Lewis was one of them.

"He made the right call." Steve assured him.

Darcy and Bruce's Rules

1: Bruce has permission to run away if absolutely necessary  
2: If Bruce says Run, Darcy agrees to run  
3: In case of Code Green, Darcy must run and hide  
4: Bruce must always come back after running  
5: Darcy gets all the kisses  
6: If Bruce works late three or more days in a row, Jarvis will lock him inside the apartment for 12-24 hours as Darcy chooses  
7: Whoever eats the last of the chocolate ice cream must order more  
8: Birthday's, Anniversarys, Easter, 4th July, Halloween, Christmas Day and New Years Eve are non-science days. No exceptions.  
9: If Darcy is still watching Netflix at midnight Jarvis is to shut it down until 6am unless it is a Team Movie night, as she needs rest too.  
10: Tony must sleep on the couch, not in the bed, even if Pepper is away and everyone is fully clothed.


	5. Rule Number 10

How Darcy woke up in Tony's bed was still pretty confusing for her. It was even more confusing when she started waking up to find him in hers. The first time was coincidentally the week after she started the hugging thing. She'd never forget that first morning, waking up with Tony Stark hugging her around the middle, his head resting just below her breasts as he slept. He clung to her, almost like a child.

It was one of those 'what the hell?' moments, the ones where you have to quickly try and remember the night before to check you hadn't done anything stupid. It was the clearing of a throat that nearly had her leaping out of the bed and running for the hills. Not Tony's, Pepper's.

"Oh crap, this is so not what it looks like." She blurted out with a cringe. "Please don't kill me."

"Coffee." The older woman said politely, holding out a mug.

"Oookaaay..." She blinked, taking the cup carefully. "Is this one of those silent anger things?"

"From the leg sticking out and your top half I assume you're fully dressed?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"What?! Of course." Darcy nodded.

"And I assume nothing inappropriate happened?"

"You mean more inappropriate than my boss getting roaring drunk, practically crying on me and using me as a human teddy bear?" Darcy snorted despite herself.

"Then there's nothing for me to be angry about." Pepper said simply. "He's struggles, he won't say anything most of the time but...he needs people. I'm glad he trusted you enough to confide in you."

"I am so glad you're not threatening me right now, it is way to early for that." Darcy sighed in relief. "This is one of the weirdest mornings ever and you are seriously the most awesome girlfriend on the planet not to be flipping out right now."

That was the start of a thing. When Tony slept at the tower without Pepper, at least fifty percent of the time he would end up dragging her into his bed. The other half of the time he took his chances alone. Sometimes he was fine, other times he ended up climbing into her bed in the middle of the night. She wondered if this was what it was like having a toddler. From what Pepper said, his using Darcy as a sleep aid was an improvement over his methods when he stayed in Malibu without her. He would either not sleep until he either returned to New York or Pepper returned home or he would drink himself into unconsciousness.

Six Months Later

Darcy was roasting. It was a nice kind of warm though, the kind where you're all snuggled in bed and sleepy. It was then she realised that she was warm on both sides.

Her eyes snapped open and she jerked awake.

"Wha-" Bruce mumbled from behind her.

Darcy's eyes softened when she took in the sleeping man in front of her. Tony lay curled towards her, fast asleep.

"What is Tony doing in your bed with us?" Bruce asked.

"Sometimes when Pepper isn't here he can't sleep. Sometimes I would keep him company...totally not in the same way I keep you company...just so you know." She explained.

"Uh..." Bruce leant up to scratch his head in confusion.

"Honestly, Tony and I totally platonic, the thought of having sex with him is literally creepy for me."

"Good to know." He chuckled. "Is this going to be a regular thing? Him appearing in our bed?"

"Not regular, just a rare occurance." She said softly, reaching out and brushing some of Tony's hair from his face.

"He doesn't snore right?" Bruce mumbled, sliding his arm around her waist.

"Not unless he's been drinking a lot." She replied.

"Go to sleep." He mumbled against her shoulder. She did.

The following morning Tony had been somewhat sheepish about inviting himself into bed with the couple. Bruce pointed to the notice board in his kitchen which listed his and Darcy's rules. Rule number ten had been added this morning by Bruce.

10: Tony must sleep on the couch, not in the bed, even if Pepper is away and everyone is fully clothed.

For the next two years Tony broke that rule repeatedly and neither Bruce nor Darcy had the heart to be truly mad at him.


End file.
